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User blog:Bowdrie1999/Invictus: A One-Part Miniseries.
Lieutenant Veller had a death-grip on the stick of his T-65 fighter/bomber. A brief, blinding flash aft of his cockpit signaled the funeral pyre of another Alliance ship under the relentless guns of the Imperial battlefleet. He glanced over at the other X-wings flying escort cover as they dove below the eliptical horizion of the planet Dachat. Veller couldn't resist another look back at his carrier, the Beacon, as she fired another salvo from her heavy turrets and turned in a Marg Sabl maneuver to safely launch the last of her fighters into the fray. Colonel Savv, the Beacon's CAG, or air-wing commander, was silent over the radio. Another cause of concern. No orders, not explanation, not a single command came from the Beacon ''as she fought for her life in low orbit over yet another planet decimated by Imperial tyranny. The only source of direction came from the Colonel, who ordered the rest of the air group equipped with high-explosive munitions and launched planetside as soon as possible. He hadn't spoken since then. The look in his eye had the young lieutenant worried. Were they going to launch an attack on the Imperials from below? With the kind of firepower slung in bomb cradles beneath their X-wings, they might be able to put a Star Destroyer out of commission. ''Surely, that's it. The Lieutenant reassured himself. But their flight element kept the downward descent into atmosphere, led by orange-red afterburners of the Colonel's lead ship. Dachat's dim sun was dissapearing over the western horizion, plunging the group into darkness. There is no greater honor than to die in service to one's people. Veller recited the hollow mantra to himself as his comrades blinked out in now-small flashes above him. The philosopher that wrote that piece of ''soya ''probably has never seen war apart from a holofilm. '' '' ''He almost didn't notice when half of their element split off to the east, rolling into a gentle curve arcing towards one of two major cities on Dachat. The rest of the flight group held their course towards the other city, who's lights were beginning to be visible on the horizion. "Contact right! ''Gorram din ha-" ''An urgent voice called over the comm as one T-65 caught fire and turned over on it's backside, one of its S-foils tearing off in its death-throes, sending flaming arcs of debris into the night sky. Veller could barely see the TIE Interceptors on his radar screen. Cunning bastards were using the ion clouds as cover. "Colonel, Feliel is gone sir. Permission to break formation and engage?" The call came from Lt. Greene, her voice was laced with animosity. "Negative Greene. What about radio silence do you not understand? Get your ''dav'ika ''back in formation and continue with the mission." "Negative sir. I can't leave hi-" a burst of red energy bolts slammed into Greene's fighter, seperating the nose and the aft section in a blinding explosion. Veller followed the origin of the shots back to the Colonel's fighter in shock and unbelief. The comm was alive now with shouts of surprise that slowly turned to insubordinate rage when the pilots of Gypsy company saw what their leader had done. "He just shot down Greene." "''Gorram traitor." "Vape him. Somebody vape him." But no one had the courage to pull the trigger. The talk on the battlenet slowly trickled off into silence. By now Gypsy flight was overhead the capital city of New Sullivan. The burning buildings and smoke rose kilometers into the air in the pre-dawn light. Not a single Imperial fighter or ship was seen in the air. The Interceptors must have given up the chase and returned home. "Go see for yourself." the colonel said over the open chanel. His voice was laden with such deep sorrow and regret that all those who heard forgot their outrage and all eyes turned to the burning city below them. "Our beatiful city is fallen, children of Theolophis." ''He said quietly. Veller recognized the quote from the ancient poem ''Invictus, ''and he could not hold back the sorrow of seeing his homeworld turn to ash below him as he leaned the stick left and arced wide over the market district where he played as a child. "Why are we here sir?" Someone asked. "What hope can we offer?" Another added. "We can lay our city to rest." Savv replied slowly, his voice regaining that familiar confidence of command and conviction. "What do you mean sir?" "I mean exactly what I said, soldier. Do you have any idea what the Imperials have done?" "N-no sir." "What does the Blackwing virus mean to you soldier?" "Nothing sir. Just a name that's been bouncing around the battlenet. We thought it was just another codename." Savv paused. "Not a codename, soldier. A pathogen they released into New Sullivan's water supply." All 15 of Gypsy company's pilots whispered among themselves, speaking in hushed tones about the rumored new Imperial weapons of mass-destruction.... and what they did to an exposed biological. "I'm sure you all are aware of the rumors. Turns out they're true. If we allow the virus to break out of New Sullivan, there is no hope for the rest of Dachat. We..... we have a duty to destroy what's left." Shocked silence dominated the comm now. Most of Gypsy company's pilots were from various parts of New Sullivan. The descision to destroy the city weighed heavily on their minds. "Lieutenant Veller, front and center." Veller was brought out of his thoughts by the mentioning of his name. "Sir?" "Make your run. Drop your munitions on top of the fuel depot. The secondary blast should be enough to level the city." "Sir.... why me? What about the survivors?" "Trust me Lieutenant. You're granting them a merciful death. If you find yourself unable to carry out my order, I will find someone who is, or do it myself." "Sir..." The comm clicked off. A two-tone buzz in his headset alerted Veller to a missile locked onto his fighter, in standby mode. Ready to be fired if he failed. Hot tears streamed down his face as he pushed the stick down and leveled off at 5,000 meters, getting a visual on the massive fuel depot where thousands of gallons of raw starship fuel waited for a freighter that would never come. He locked onto the heat-signature of the power plant, his computer relaying the message back to him that the Shiva-class bomb was ready for deployment. He decreased to half-throttle, taking a deep breath, and in one mechanical motion dropped his bomb. Increasing to full burn, he hauled back on the stick, feeling sick to his stomach. He could feel the buffeting shockwave of the explosion behind him, but could not bear to look back. As he stablized at 12,000 meters, he peered over the western horizion at a beautiful sunrise peeking over the war-torn valley, illuminating in bright-morning rays what natural majesty was left in the burning forests below. The whole squadron breathed a sad sigh of relief when the call came from ''Beacon ''to RTB. They were pulling out. The pilots flew at maximum throttle back to the fleeing carrier in early-morning silence. The comm chanels were open, but no one spoke. Silent understanding and reverence spoke louder than all the words in the universe. Thinking back, Veller silently quoted to himself the words of ''Invictus. ''Their meaning, so often overlooked, would never be the same to him. ''Beyond this place of wrath and tears, '' Looms but the horror of the shade,'' '' And yet the menace of the years,'' '' Finds, and shall find me unafraid.'' Category:Blog posts Category:Blog posts